Ohhhh yes, finally the new Paradise Lost (PL) album Symbol Of Life is out on the 21st of October, and what an album it has become. I would recommend every lost PL fan to rush to the music store, because they`re back on the old track again. Still no grunts by frontman Nick Holmes but the PL sound is completely back. Think of a crossbreed of Draconian Times and One Second. Typical melancholic and dreamy PL melodies performed by guitar and piano over a solid wall of heavy guitars. Not much use of samplers, although still present, but not as extensively as on the previous albums Host and Believe In Nothing.

As the bio describes it Symbol Of Life represents: “a new beginning at a time in which the quality of a PL album is still measured by many on the basis of its heavy guitar content”; I couldn’t agree more! This album will end up high on my “Best Album Of 2002” list. Only one big drawback: why only 8 tracks and a total playing time of just over 30 minutes (at least on the tape (!) that was sent to us), I need more! Fortunately, the album contains more songs than this tape.

To sum up these 8 nearly perfect songs: “Primal” (4.

24), “Erased” (3.33), “Mystify” (3.49), “Isolate” (3.45), “Channel For Pain” (3.53), “No Celebration” (3.48), “Perfect Mask” (3.47) and “Prey Nightfall” (4.12). “Two Worlds”, “Self Obsessed” and “Symbol of Life” are three additional tracks for the album, so the album will consist of 11 tracks but will probably still be short; about 45 minutes, given the average playing time of 4 minutes per song.

The lyrics, as always dark and miserable, are sung by the characteristic tormented voice of Nick, but I still feel that a grunt in time brings an extra emotion to it. “Erased” even has a female voice in the chorus and is a good candidate for a single with a characteristic PL keyboard melody in that catchy chorus. Also “Perfect Mask” is an up-tempo song, with a heavy rhythm guitar riff structure similar to for instance White Zombie, which sticks out from the rest. All in all slow, mid-tempo and up-tempo songs are evenly distributed over the entire album, all with the PL sound that was so familiar. They’re back, so rush to the stores and spend your money on them.